Tuesday, June 8 a semi showed up in our parking lot, and a team of loaders labeled every single item we owned with a green sticker and hauled it all away. (Another very surreal experience, having all your belongings inventoried in triplicate.) After turning in our keys, we finally made it out of town around 4pm on Tuesday. We weren't sure how far we'd get, but Timmy was such a good baby that we ended up driving the whole way Tuesday night. We even stopped at a rest stop around 7pm to do trach care! (We figured the great outdoors was probably a little more hygienic than a nasty rest stop bathroom.)
Around 1am we arrived in Laurel, MD. We found a Red Roof Inn, where we crashed for the night.
Wednesday we spent running around Laurel trying to find a place to get a cashier's check. (Chase apparently has no branches anywhere in the area, and we had trouble finding any grocery stores that would do cashier's checks. Until finally we remembered that the post office does money orders!) We then signed our lease and got our keys. For the next week or so, we camped out in an empty apartment.
We sort of had to hit the ground running, because bright and early Thursday morning, I had to be at a conference. I was gone all day Thursday through Sunday. Thankfully, though, Mark and Timmy were able to hang out with Mark's parents, who came out for about ten days to help us out. Together they had an exciting several days. They survived the first accidental decannulation and the first time the mic-key button came out, all while living out of suitcases! (Good thing we came prepared with every possible medical supply imaginable!) We were a little disappointed for our perfect no-crisis streak to end, though.
Speaking of medical crises....it certainly was no crisis, but Timmy managed to survive the huge transition of moving while simultaneously dealing with his first post-hospital trach infection. Other than not sleeping for most of the night the first several nights we were in Maryland, he did great!
Friday, June 10 also marked one year since Timmy's Uncle Scott passed away. A wonderful friend from home who now lives in Laurel (and who has been an amazing support these last two weeks!) dropped by with some things that made her think of Scott. Timmy especially loved the glasses and the whooppee cushion.
Finally on Tuesday, June 14 all of our stuff arrived. We spent the next several days unpacking, sorting, organizing, hanging curtain rods (for the not-yet sewn curtains) , and anchoring bookshelves to the wall. Mark even figured out a way to carry Timmy (and his feeding/Farrell bags) and unpack at the same time! (Yes, the Farrell bag is hanging from his hat with a coat hanger.)
Once again, Timmy was a real trooper. He handled having his whole world turned upside down quite well. (Though, poor guy, he's been through so many transitions in his first eight months that he probably has no clue what any sort of consistency looks like!)
It's been a crazy couple of weeks. The first several days, we really weren't sure how we were going to survive. But it's been a good couple of weeks, too. We've already made some friends and our new apartment (which is bigger than our old one!) is starting to look like a home. It's already been christened with gastric secretions on the ceiling, and peas on the floor. We're exhausted and overwhelmed, but we're also excited about where this new stage of life will take us. I'm not sure how many times we've moved in our four and a half years of marriage (it all depends on how you define "move"), but this is the first time we've moved with the intention of actually staying put. It's a nice feeling.
